Talk:Wilfred Cantwell Smith

Karen Armstrong

"The Meaning and End of Religion remains Smith's most influential work. The writer who, in turn, has taken up and applied most vigorously Smith's emphases is the former nun Karen Armstrong." I don't know of anyone who would relate the two. There are others talking about the definitions of religion (J. Z. Smith, Tomoko Masuzawa, etc.) but Karen Armstrong doesn't really feature in to academic debate at all. Karen Armstrong has more in common with the scholar of religion HUSTON Smith than WILFRED CANTWELL Smith, so perhaps there's a confusion there? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.184.197.209 (talk) 15:22, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

No confusion, I suggest. Armstrong acknowledges her debt to Smith in her autobiographical volume The Spiral Staircase. As Smith advised, she rarely uses the term religion, preferring instead religious tradition or faith. As for her influence and vigor, I would refer you to the article on Karen Armstrong. Wingspeed (talk) 20:17, 4 February 2010 (UTC)

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Anti-essentialism

I find the statement in the article:

In the view of Talal Asad, the work was "the first to argue against essentialist definitions of religion."

References

which was added only recently. I can see that Asad does say this. But I have looked through a dozen reviews of the book which make no mention of this concept. Neither is it clear what is meant by an "essentialist definition" of religion. So, I gather that it is Asad's own interpretation of the work. This should not be used in the lead description of the work. So, I am deleting it. Please free to add a passage or section on Asad's interpretation if necessary, where the meaning of "essentialist definition" should be explained. -- Kautilya3 (talk) 22:50, 26 December 2018 (UTC)